With redundancies in the UK rising, Transition to Teach has been working with employers in England that have staff at risk of redundancy. The service, funded by the Department for Education and delivered by Cognition Education, works closely with organisations to support exiting employees to successfully transition into a teaching career.

“People will understandably panic when they hear the word ‘redundancy’ but, for many, it can provide an opportunity to reassess their career and aspirations,” said employer engagement manager at Transition to Teach Jo Holland. “Some staff experience redundancy rounds every year, sometimes multiple times each year. The coronavirus pandemic is also causing people from all sectors to re-evaluate their careers, not just those at risk of redundancy.”

Once companies have an active redundancy situation, Transition to Teach offer support in a variety of ways says Jo: “The first step is usually to set up a meeting, find out timescales, share our employer pack and find out how the company wants us to support them. In many cases the company will take this information and disseminate it to staff, but others will ask for more support. For example, we recently provided a private webinar for a client in the energy sector and we also support army resettlement on an ongoing basis.

“Some of the biggest worries employees have about transitioning to teaching include the financial side, managing a classroom and going back to learning. That’s what we’re here for. We can guide them to information about bursaries, and we offer that encouragement and practical support with applying to a teaching course. People also think they need a degree in what they want to teach, this isn’t always the case as a degree in an unrelated subject can suffice, especially if they have workplace experience in a particular subject.”

This time last year, fashion merchandiser Alexandra Heynes, was working across Europe in a fast-paced fashion retail role. Fast forward to 2021 and Alexandra is training to be a teacher supported by Transition to Teach. As for many people, it was pandemic related redundancy that caused Alexandra to completely rethink her career path:

“As a fashion merchandiser, I’ve worked for three companies in the last two years. Restructures were starting to happen more frequently. It made me begin to question what else I could do as a career. I looked at the skills I used in my job and how they could be transferred.

“One of the aspects of fashion merchandising that I particularly enjoyed was learning and development, and I began to realise that my interest in child development could be utilised as a teacher. The more I looked into teaching, the more I realised that it’s something I would be good at, and that I would enjoy.”

Alexandra contacted Transition to Teach and received advice and practical support with applying to a teaching course; she will continue to receive support right through to the end of her first year as a newly qualified teacher.

“The skills I developed as a fashion merchandiser include team working, interpersonal skills and identifying and meeting customer needs,” added Alexandra. “My job was about making things as good as they could be for the customer, the difference now is that my ‘customer’ will be the children I teach. It’s certainly very different from fashion merchandising, but I’m really enjoying it.”

To discover how the Transition to Teach programme could support your exiting staff, simply visit https://www.transitiontoteach.co.uk/